this being repeated to Johnson he replied, with a smile, ‘I am glad that he thanks God for anything.’ He was also the publisher of the histories of Robertson and Hume. The latter had much correspondence with Millar, generally of a grumbling or suspicious order. Dr. Alexander Carlyle met Millar in 1763 at the ‘Dragon’ in Harrogate, a favourite resort of persons of quality. The gentry staying in the house, having failed to take the precaution of ordering newspapers, were dependent upon Millar, ‘who had two papers sent to him by every post, and were civil accordingly; and yet when he appeared in the morning in his old, well-worn suit of clothes, they could not help calling him Peter Pamphlet; for the generous patron of Scotch authors, with his city wife and her niece, were sufficiently ridiculous when they came into good company’ (Autobiog. pp. 434–5). A monument to James Thomson was erected in Westminster Abbey in 1762, the cost being defrayed by the sale of a splendid quarto edition of the poet's works, of which Millar generously relinquished the copyright for the purpose (Baker, Biog. Dram 1812, i. 712). In 1767 Millar resigned his business to Thomas Cadell the elder [q. v.], his partner since 1765, and retired to Kew Green, where he died on 8 June 1768; he was buried in Chelsea cemetery. His three children died in infancy. His widow, Jane, remarried Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, and died at her house in Pall Mall on 25 Oct. 1788, aged 81. In his will (P. C. C. 250, Secker) Millar left legacies to David Hume and to William and Allen Fielding, sons of Henry Fielding, the novelist.
Among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum are letters from Millar to Sir Hans Sloane (4059), Dr. Thomas Birch, 1736–50 (4314), the Society for Encouragement of Learning, 1736–9 (6190), for which he published, Sir Andrew Mitchell, 1760–4 (6858), and J. Caryll, 1747 (28230, f. 377). His correspondence with Bishop Warburton, whose ‘Divine Legation’ he published, is in Egerton MS. 1959, f. 15.
[Nichols's Lit. Anecd. iii. 386, and elsewhere; David Hume's Letters, ed. Birkbeck Hill, passim; Knight's Shadows of the Old Booksellers; Timperley's Encyclopædia; Walpole's Letters (Cunningham), ii. 509.]
MILLAR, JAMES, M.D. (1762–1827), physician and miscellaneous writer, born at Ayr 4 Feb. 1762, distinguished himself in classics and science at Glasgow university. For some years he acted as tutor in Jamaica and afterwards was chaplain at Glasgow university. Removing to Edinburgh, he graduated M.D. and became fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He frequently lectured on natural history and chemistry, and was one of the physicians at the Edinburgh Dispensary, where he caught a fever and died 13 July 1827. He left a family ill provided for.
In 1807 Millar published in conjunction with William Vazie ‘Observations on the Advantages and Practicability of making Tunnels under Navigable Rivers, particularly applicable to the proposed Tunnel under the Forth,’ 8vo, Edinburgh. He also edited the fourth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ 20 vols. 4to, Edinburgh, 1810, and the last fifteen volumes of the fifth edition of the same work, 20 vols., 4to, Edinburgh, 1817, and wrote largely in both editions. Millar also planned and edited a more popular dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature, the ‘Encyclopædia Edinensis,’ 6 vols. 4to, Edinburgh, 1827. His other publications, which are chiefly based on his articles contributed to the encyclopædias, include:
- ‘A Guide to Botany,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1819.
- ‘Elements of Chemistry,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1820.
- ‘Practical Observations on Cold and Warm Bathing, and descriptive Notices of Watering-places in Britain,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1821.
[Gent. Mag. 1827, pt. ii. pp. 276–7; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816,p. 233; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Irving's Book of Scotsmen, p. 351.]
MILLAR, JOHN (1735–1801), professor of law, was born 22 June 1735 in the parish of Shotts, Lanarkshire, of which his father, James Millar, was minister. His mother was a daughter of Archibald Hamilton of Westburn, Lanarkshire. The elder Millar became minister of Hamilton in 1737; and the son was sent to live with his uncle, John Millar, who lived on the small family estate of Millheugh, Blantyre, near Glasgow. The boy was taught to read by his uncle, and in 1742 was sent to the grammar school of Hamilton. In 1746 he went to Glasgow, where he became a friend of William Morehead, afterwards of Herbertshire, the uncle of Francis Jeffrey. When a little older he lived in college chambers, and dined with his mother's first cousin, William Cullen [q. v.] He became intimate with the famous James Watt (1736–1819) [q. v.], and attended Adam Smith's lectures upon moral philosophy. Millar's description of these lectures is given in Dugald Stewart's ‘Life of Smith.’ Smith long afterwards showed his esteem for his hearer by sending his cousin, David
